From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbedevilbe‧dev‧il /bɪˈdevəl/ verb (bedevilled, bedevilling British English, bedeviled, bedeviling American English) [transitive] PROBLEMto cause a lot of problems and difficulties for someone or something over a period of time SYN plague a society bedevilled by racial tensionsGrammar Bedevil is usually passive.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
bedevil• The senator has been bedeviled by allegations of corruption.• Unti1 1939 the Labour Party was bedevilled by internal dissensions on this issue.• In the past, the discussion on the role of the state in public communication has been bedevilled by the East-West conflict.• In particular, the relationship is becoming increasingly bedevilled by the issue of anti-missile defence.• Systemic treatment of cancer is bedevilled by the similarity of tumour cells to normal cells, at least under most physiological conditions.• Uncertainty over objectives has bedevilled public libraries for many years.• Instead, the new system was introduced on the pay-as-you-go basis which has bedevilled social security finance ever since.• Off the field problems which have bedevilled the club in recent times have been buried.• The same problem bedevils the men. 